


you're so busy being busy, i don't want to interfere but i can't stop

by leahburke



Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain Marvel (2019), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Bisexual Carol, Bisexual Steve, Canon Divergence - Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie), Enemies to Lovers, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, I tried my best, carol danvers joins the avengers, kind of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-18
Updated: 2019-06-18
Packaged: 2020-05-12 10:12:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19227055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leahburke/pseuds/leahburke
Summary: Carol helps the Avengers defeat Ultron and finds some unexpected obstacles along the way.//“I’m on a mission.” Ultron said, to no one in particular. What the fuck was he on about?“What mission?” Natasha said, carefully.“Peace in our time.” He said and before Carol could do anything, a legion of bots smashes through the walls. Maria and Natasha started shooting their guns, Thor swung his hammer and even Steve tried to help but he ended up being thrown across the room.“Steve!” Carol called. She hurried to check up on him. “Are you okay?” she asked.“You starting to care about me, Danvers?” Carol couldn’t help but roll her eyes. He nodded at her, a grin spread through his face."Not a chance." she said with a grin.





	you're so busy being busy, i don't want to interfere but i can't stop

**Author's Note:**

> hullo friends!! i am back again, with a mcu-related fic this time! first of all, im sorry i haven't written on here for so long. i've been focusing on my novel, so writing two things at once can be a bit overwhelming. second i wanna thank sarah for commissioning this to me; at first i thought i wouldn't enjoy writing something i wasn't accostumed to write but i actually had a ton of fun. anyway i'm gonna stop talking, enjoy.

It had been 20 years. 20 years since Carol handed Fury that pager. She was surprised he waited this long to use it, but then again, she made him promise to use it only when an emergency happened. She didn’t even know what was so important until she got there. As usual, Fury wasn’t thrilled to get into details.

 

“So,” Carol said slumping down on the sofa when she had first arrived. “What have we got, this time?”

 

Carol had to admit she missed having Fury around. She missed their adventures and she definitely admired the eye patch. Not that she’d ever tell him that.

 

Fury couldn’t help but chuckle. He raised his eyebrows at Carol as he said, “No, ‘ _Hey, Fury, it’s so great to see you, how’s it been? Love what you did with your hair. Nice eye patch_ ’, none of that?”

 

Carol snorted, “First of all, that eye patch is ridiculous. You look like that pirate that everyone secretly hates. And second, since when are you so chatty?”

 

Fury shrugged. He slumped his shoulders like he always did when he was trying to give bad news, Carol hated it. “I guess, I’m not.”

 

Carol knew he wasn’t one to have deep conversations or share feelings, and she never minded it. But she could tell something was wrong so she decided to press on.

 

“So… how’s it been?” she asked, and Fury gave her a look that Carol could only interpret as _Oh, now you wanna know._ “What did I miss?” Carol said.

 

“Well,” Fury started with a sigh, “let’s see. You missed Steve being frozen on ice for 70 years, SHIELD being infiltrated by Hydra, a magic hammer controlled by an Asgardian king…” his voice trailed off. Carol could tell there were more. He was saving the bad news for last which Carol found unusual.

 

“Huh,” she said with a nod. She could tell she was blinking way more than she should, “is that all?”

 

Fury sighed, “and the Tesseract was stolen.” There it was.

 

“Of course, it was,” Carol said.

 

The fight to get the Tesseract back was very brief, for her standards. Carol was surprised Fury called her in for this. He had said, _you’re an expert in this, Danvers, we need you_ , but Carol was almost sure that was an excuse to see her again. She was okay we that. She figured space would be fine without her for a couple of days.

 

After they got the Tesseract back, Carol got to meet the Team. There was Tony, who had an advanced technological suit and a mechanical heart, Natasha who was a badass fighter, Bruce, who turned green and unstable when he got angry, Clint, who Carol knew literally nothing about, Thor, the dude with the magic hammer, and Steve. Know-it-all Steve, I’ve-been-alive-forever Steve. Carol couldn’t stand him.

 

If he told her one more time about the way they do things or complained about how she hadn’t come to help sooner, she would blast him to bits.

 

The team assembled in the Avengers’ Tower. After taking a small tour of the building, Carol could admire how everything was set up. How it mixed cozy and professional and it even had labs set up for Bruce. Apparently, he was a doctor of some sort? Carol honestly hadn’t paid that much attention. Mostly because it was Steve explaining it to her.

 

Fury had asked Carol to dress nice. Of course, he didn’t tell her at what time they’d be headed there to celebrate so, obviously, they were late. It was bad enough she was new here, she had to be late too.

 

Clearly, that wasn’t a problem. All around people were celebrating, Steve and Sam were playing pool with a bunch of old dudes; Thor, Rhodey and Tony were chatting about something, Carol didn’t even want to imagine what kind of conversation was happening. Clint was talking with Natasha, probably giving her details about what happened earlier that day.

 

“Where are all the ladies?” Carol asked Fury as she looked around. So far, the only women she’d seen were Natasha and Dr. Helen, who was only there to set up Bruce’s lab. Well, she might as well celebrate.

 

Carol thought her coming to this party was stupid. She didn’t even know anyone and the fact that she was surrounded by narcissistic idiots, didn’t make the situation any better. But Fury insisted, so here they were.

 

“Keep it in your pants, Danvers.” Fury muttered as an answer. Carol couldn’t help but snort.

 

“I was wondering the same thing.” Someone agreed.  Carol didn’t recognize it as being anyone from the team but it wasn’t Helen either. She turned around and her jaw almost dropped.

 

In front of Carol, stood a woman in a stunning red dress and a black leather jacket, a gold necklace dropped from her neck. Carol thought she looked amazing. She tried for a smile before speaking.

 

“Um, I’m— I uh,” _Damn it_ , she thought to herself, _focus Danvers_ , “Danvers.” She said, at last, extending her hand, “Carol Danvers.”

 

The woman gave her a smile, “Maria Hill. I work at SHIELD. Well, worked.”

 

“Yeah,” Carol agreed, “Fury told me what happened… Sort of.”

 

“Yeah… So,” Maria said, offering Carol a glass of champagne. She immediately wished she could have something a lot stronger, “Fury tells me you’re not from around here.”

 

Carol took a sip of her drink before answering. After a chuckle, she said, “Yeah, you could say that.”

 

Maria raised an eyebrow, a smirk appeared on her face as if she knew Carol was up to something. “Where from?”

 

“Hala,” Carol said simply. Maria knit her eyebrows, confused,  “I told you,” Carol shrugged, “Not from around here.”

 

Maria was about to say something when Fury interrupted. He was accompanied by Tony. Without his suit, he wasn’t much taller than Carol, and this time, she noticed a soft beard covering his face.

 

“What are we talking about?” Fury asked.

 

“None of your business. Lady talk,” Carol teased.

 

“Tony,” he proceeded to say, “you’ve met Carol.”

 

Tony made a confused look. “Carol?” he asked, teasingly, “Who the hell is Carol? Who even agreed to bring _Carol_ in? Nobody. Nobody agreed to this.”

 

“Ah, so he _is_ douchey!” Carol turned to Fury with a nod. He gave her a grin in response. _Okay_ , Carol thought, _I’ll play along_.

 

“Carol Danvers,” Carol said extending her hand, “Captain Marvel. The person who just got the Tesseract back for you losers.”

 

Tony scoffed, “We totally had that!”

 

“Yeah, right. Totally.” Carol said. She couldn’t help but grin. She knew Tony was a bit of a douche but she liked that about him. He was easy to talk to. A smug expression appeared on his face.

 

“Yep,” he turned to Fury, “I think we’ll get along. Hey, have you seen Steve?”

 

“Steve? Why would I have seen Steve?” she asked, arching an eyebrow.

 

Tony shrugged, “I don’t know. You seemed pissed at him earlier, I thought you’d solve that by now.”

 

“Well,” Carol said, giving him a forced smile, “Maybe when he stops acting like he rules the world, I’ll be nicer to him. For fuck’s sake, we get it, you were asleep on ice for 70 fucking years, big deal, just shut up already.”

 

As Carol finished her sentence, Tony snorted, and then his eyes widened. Carol’s eyes narrowed and confused passed through her before the realization set in. “He’s standing right behind me, isn’t he?”

 

“Yep,” Tony said, a smug expression on his face. “Hey, Cap.”

 

“Hey, Tony,” Steve greeted before standing next to him. “Carol.” He said flatly.

 

“Steve,” Carol said, not even bothering to seem excited to see him. Most people would probably be terrified that they insulted _the_ Captain America, but Carol couldn’t care less. Just seeing his face made her want to put her head through a wall. Or shove him through a wall.

 

“Anyway,” Carol said, anxious to get out of that situation. “I’m gonna go check on Romanoff or something.”

 

Steve let out a heavy sigh, and as Carol started to walk away he spoke up, “Wait.”

 

Now it was Carol’s turn to sigh. If he just going to annoy her again, she would just leave. She didn’t have the patience for it.

 

“What?” Carol asked. She could understand how she sounded rude, but she knew whatever was going to come out of Steve’s mouth wasn’t good.

 

“We need to talk.” He said in a serious tone.

 

“No, Steve.” Carol said, “we don’t.” As if on cue, Tony, Fury, and Maria took their leave. Carol didn’t even notice Thor and Rhodey leaving, but obviously, they’d had enough of Carol and Steve’s bickering.

 

“Look!” he called, grabbing Carol’s arm. One angry look from her was all it took for him to let go.

 

“I’m sorry about…. Earlier,” he said. He couldn’t even look Carol in the eye. “I shouldn’t have meddled.”

 

“No, you really shouldn’t have.” Carol rolled her eyes and anger made her face boil.

 

For some reason, Steve had decided it was a good idea to meddle in her personal life. First, he decided to ask a bunch of question about Hala and how “the whole Kree thing works”, then he decided to ask about Monica, was she a daughter or just a friend? Needless to say, that pissed Carol off. It was like the more Steve talked, the more insufferable he became.

 

Suddenly, interrupting her train of thought, her phone buzzed against her knee. Carol took it out and her heart broke. The screen read: New text: Maria. Carol sighed, thinking to herself it probably wouldn’t be a good idea to open it. But her heart was more stubborn than her brain. The text read: I still have your old jacket here. Carol typed: keep it, Monica will like it. After a few seconds, Maria replied: Ok.

 

She had no idea why she thought Maria would say something different. Something that would shine hope on the chance of them getting back together… Carol had felt stupid many times, especially when she didn’t remember her old life, but none of those times hurt as much as this one.

 

She pocketed her phone, realizing after a second, Steve was staring at her with a concerned look on his face. “What?” she snapped.

 

“You okay?” Steve asked. The worried expression never leaving his face, and as much as it annoyed Carol, she had to admit he looked kind of cute. Almost like a small puppy.

 

“Fine,” Carol muttered.

 

“You don’t seem fine…Who’s Maria?” he asked. The moment Carol found Steve attractive ended as soon as it started, she wanted to kick him in the nuts again.

 

“None of your business.” She spat, dryly. As if it didn’t hurt enough just hearing Maria’s voice, now Carol had to deal with this idiot asking about her too. Jesus Christ.

 

Just when Carol thought he let it go, Steve spoke again, “Is she like… an old friend?”

 

Carol lost it, “Do you ever just mind your own business?”

 

She spoke louder than she meant to, but at this point, she was so annoyed she couldn’t be arsed to care. Steve did nothing but shrug. After a beat, he said, “Just trying to help.”

 

“You’re meddling in my personal life! Again!” she snapped. “How is that any help, Rogers? You think that just because you’ve got Captain on your name that gives you the authority to babysit everyone?”

 

Carol sighed in frustration. She knew she’d gotten too far. For a moment, she considered going even farther, just telling him to fuck off and go bother someone else; someone who’d bother to listen. Then she saw the look on his face. She saw his expression changing from hurt to amusement. And then… Then he actually had the nerve to laugh.

 

Carol frowned. Who did he think he was?

 

“I didn’t think you had it in you, new girl.” He said. _What?_

 

“What?” she voiced her thoughts.

 

“To snap like that. That anger you just showed, that’ll be useful, Danvers.” He started to turn but Carol grabbed his wrist. At first, she didn’t mean to use as much force as she had. But thinking of what Steve had just said, made her want to grip even harder.

 

“Is my personal life a joke to you?” She asked, looking him in the eye.

 

She could feel the energy surging through her veins and she knew that if she kept going, she would possibly set Steve on fire. But she didn’t let go. Steve shook his head in response.

 

“I’m genuinely worried. I’m just saying that you could do something more productive with all that hatred.”

 

Carol let out a heavy sigh. She supposed he had a point… She let his wrist go and rolled her eyes. “Fine.” She decided. “She’s my ex-girlfriend. Happy?”

 

“Oh!” Steve responded. The surprise was noticeable in his tone as he fidgeted with his fingers. “You’re gay!” he nodded. “Cool…”

 

Carol rolled her eyes again. She couldn’t believe how this dude got more annoying with each passing second. “Bisexual. Is that a problem?”

 

“No!” he said, hurriedly. His face was filled with relief. What was his deal? Did he have some kind of problem with lesbians? God, she couldn’t stand him. “Uh. I’m bi, too.” He nodded.

 

Carol snorted. “Cool?” she didn’t mean for it to come out as a question, but it did. The situation was awkward for a moment. Neither of them spoke and they both stared at the floor. Steve pressed on.

 

“You know Sam?” Carol nodded, scanning the room for him. If there was one thing Carol was good at, it was memorizing names. She spotted Sam near the pool table, chatting with some old men. “We used to date,” Steve said.

 

“Oh, yikes!” Carol said, without really meaning to. She looked up at Steve, to see him frowning; his eyebrows were narrowed, the way they always were when he was confused. Carol didn’t even remember memorizing that, but she decided it couldn’t be good.

 

When his expression didn’t go away, she explained herself, “Working with your ex-boyfriend, I mean.”

 

Steve shrugged, “Not really… What about you?” he asked.

 

“What about me?” Carol repeated.

 

“What happened with Maria?” he said Maria’s name the same way someone would mention something taboo or say the name of a contagious disease. As if she was fucking Voldemort or something. Carol didn’t like it. She took a deep breath, reminding herself to keep her anger in check.

 

“I don’t know what gave you the impression that I was inviting you to some deep conversation. I wasn’t. And like I said, my personal life doesn’t concern you.” Steve rolled his eyes, mumbled something about finding Thor and walked away. Carol couldn’t help but sigh as she made her way to the rest of the team.

 

Everyone gathered around the table, between glasses of wine, laughter and a giant hammer that (supposedly) no one, except Thor, could lift, Carol would say her evening was going pretty fine. Besides the fact that Steve couldn’t keep his mouth shut. At least he was keeping his distance for now.

 

Thor was having a crack up at the situation. After everything they’ve been through today, the team deserved to just relax and have fun. Everyone went around, taking turns, trying their harder to lift the hammer, and Tony was trying harder than all of them. After all, he’d brought his armored hand and went on about how this was nothing but physics…

 

“Stark, come on… You’re embarrassing yourself.” Carol said with a grin. Tony looked at her and raised his eyebrows.

 

“Okay.” He said with a nod. “Okay, Danvers. You try it since you’re so smart.”

 

Carol shrugged. “Fine. I will crush you.” She said stretching her muscles before making her way to the table.

 

The way she saw it, Carol had two options. She could try and lift it like a normal person, or she could fly herself around the house like a maniac. Obviously, she chose the latter. She began lifting herself into the air as she grabbed the hammer. Everyone looked surprised, even though they’d seen her fly earlier that day.

She tried pulling the hammer with as much strength as she could, but instead of lifting it, it was like the hammer was dragging her down. Then she decided to do it as a normal being would. She’d lost her hope. If super-strength wouldn’t do it, this certainly wouldn’t either. But she tried anyway. She started by grabbing the hammer steadily, slowly moving it towards herself. Carol thought her mind might have been playing tricks on her because she could have sworn she felt the hammer budge, just the smallest bit. Then she saw Thor’s eyes filled with panic as if he couldn’t believe she might actually do it. But when Carol couldn’t lift it, his whole body slumped with relief.

 

“Nothing,” he said with a laugh. Bruce nodded toward Natasha as if to tell her it was her turn. She didn’t seem to notice until Tony spoke.

 

“And… Romanoff?”

 

“Oh!” she exclaimed, realizing what they meant. “Oh, no. That’s not a question I need answered.”

 

“So,” Carol concluded, “I guess we can all agree that it’s rigged.” Tony nodded in agreement and others murmured agreeing as well.

 

“You bet your ass,” Clint said. At that moment, Maria let out a small gasp. Carol turned to her, just to see a teasing grin form on her face.

 

“Steve,” she called, “he said a bad word.” Carol snorted. Ever since Steve had chided Tony earlier for saying the word shit, the team had been teasing him about it non-stop. Steve turned to Tony, rolling his eyes a bit.

 

“Did you tell everyone about that?” Carol couldn’t help but laugh. Steve turned to her, shaking his head, but she could tell he wanted to laugh too. Tony shrugged.

 

“So,” Tony said, “if none of us can lift it, it means the handle is imprinted, right? It’s like Thor’s fingerprints are a security code?”

 

“Yeah,” Thor responded, nodding in agreement, “that’s a very interesting theory. However,” he continued. He got up and lifted his hammer, flipping it in the air. “I have a simpler one.”

 

Carol raised her eyebrows. “What’s that?”

 

“You’re all not worthy.” Carol groaned, along with the rest of the group. A chorus of disagreement erupted, immediately.

 

Suddenly, a loud shrieking noise filled the room causing everyone to cover their ears. As the sound faded, everyone uncovered them.

 

“Worthy?” it said, in a raspy, robotic voice. Its legs clanging as it moved forward.

 

 The team turned to see what made the weird noise and were surprised when they saw one of Tony’s suit prototypes standing there for no particular reason. If Carol didn’t know any better, she’d say she was hallucinating the robot taking deep, shaky breaths. At first, that didn’t bother her that much. I mean, how hard could it be to defeat a robot?

 

“No…” it continued, “How could you be worthy? You’re all killers.”

 

“Tony.” Carol said, at the same time as Steve said, “Stark.” They exchanged a look and Carol noticed everyone standing still. They were all prepared to attack if needed, but no one made any sudden moves.

 

“JARVIS,” Tony called, not moving.

 

“Sorry. I was asleep,” The robot said, apologetically and looking around the room as if searching for answers. “Or… I was a dream.” It shook its metallic head slowly.

 

Tony continued, pressing on his device. “Reboot Legionnaire OS. We got a buggy suit.”

 

Carol had no idea what was going on, but she wasn’t particularly enjoying this. The robot kept going, telling his sob story and with each word Carol wanted to blast him more and more. He even mentioned killing someone, which only made Carol angrier.

 

“You killed someone?” Steve asked, his eyebrows knitting trying to make sense of the situation.

 

“Wouldn't have been my first call. But, down in the real world, we're faced with ugly choices.” He said matter of factly. Who the hell did he think he was. He’d been here for two seconds and was already talking about the world as if he’d been living here forever. Where the hell did this dude, machine, thing come from anyways?

 

“Who sent you?” Thor asked, taking the words out of Carol’s mouth. Then a voice spoke, not the robot’s, but Tony’s.

 

“I see a suit of armor, around the world,” Tony’s voice said. Everyone turned their heads to Tony, clearly confused about the situation.

 

“Ultron…” Bruce said. He didn’t sound surprised… In fact, he sounded as if he was expecting this to happen. Carol didn’t like it.

 

“What ‘Tron, now?” Carol asked. She heard Maria cock her gun, clearly ready for a fight. Carol decided to focus, ready to blast that thing to pieces.

 

“I’m on a mission,” Ultron said, to no one in particular. What the fuck was he on about?

 

“What mission?” Natasha said, carefully.

 

“Peace in our time.” He said and before Carol could do anything, a legion of bots smashes through the walls. Maria and Natasha started shooting their guns, Thor swung his hammer and even Steve tried to help but he ended up being thrown across the room.

 

“Steve!” Carol called. She hurried to check up on him. “Are you okay?” she asked.

 

“You starting to care about me, Danvers?” Carol couldn’t help but roll her eyes. He nodded at her, a grin spread through his face.

 

“Not a chance,” Carol said, with a grin.

 

“Go,” he ordered. “Go!”

 

And Carol did. After seeing the scene, she decided it was time to have some fun. She decided to power up and start destroying things. In a matter of minutes, all the legions were blasted to pieces. Or at least most of them were. Steve had gotten back up, he now had his shield in his arm and he threw it. But the last legion left wasn’t within the shield’s range. _Damn it_.

 

“Steve, watch out!” Carol called. Immediately, Steve ducked and Carol blasted the legion. Steve nodded thanks at her, a grin appearing in his face. Carol couldn’t help but grin back. She could feel herself relax for just a moment, but that moment was brief.

 

Ultron appeared again, clapping his robotic hands. The sound made Carol cringe. “That was a bit dramatic.”

 

Carol took a look at Tony pleading him to let her finish this. He nodded his head slowly as if saying _Not yet_. Ultron rambled about how they didn’t think this thing through blah blah blah, Carol frankly blacked out but when Ultron mentioned The Avengers’ extinction, she couldn’t take it anymore. She simply blasted him.

 

 When the team moved to the lab, Carol tried to make sense of what was happening. A mush of scientific words tied in her brain: _nuclear codes… escape hatch… files and surveillance… Carol._ Huh?

 

“Carol!” Steve called and she blinked. “Focus.” He pleaded.

 

“Right.” She nodded.

 

“He also said he killed somebody,” Clint said. Maria nodded slowly, a frown forming on her face.

 

“There wasn’t anyone else in the building though.” She said.

 

“Yes, there was,” Tony said with a sigh. He walked to the center of the room, tapping with his device. Açmst immediately, a 3D image popped up. Bruce’s eyes widened and apparently, everyone else knew what that was. And Carol thought Hala was weird. She sighed.

 

“This is insane,” Bruce said.

 

“Sorry.” Carol stepped in, “What is that exactly?”

 

“That, Danvers,” Tony said turning to face Carol,” is JARVIS.”

 

“Jarvis? Cool cool cool…. So, what?”

 

“Well,” Steve said, “Jarvis was the first line of defense, he would’ve shut Ultron down… It makes sense.”

 

Bruce shook his head, “Ultron could’ve assimilated JARVIS. This isn’t strategy, this is rage.”

 

Suddenly, heavy footsteps marched through the room and before Carol could even make sense of what was happening, Thor was grabbing Tony by the neck, midair, with an angry look in his face.

 

“Come on,” Tony said, choking a little, “Use your words, buddy.”

 

“I’ve more than enough words to describe you, Stark.” He spat, tightening his grip on Tony’s neck.

 

“THOR!” Carol called, her voice firm.  Thor turned to look at her, noticing her stubborn eyes. With a roll of his eyes, he dropped Tony backing away from him.

 

“Any updates on the Legionnaire?” Steve asked.

 

Thor shook his head, “Trail went cold…And a bonus: it has the scepter, now we have to retrieve it again.”

 

“We're the Avengers. We can bust arms dealers all day, but that up there? How are you guys planning on beating that?” Tony asked. Carol had to admit he had a point.

 

“Together,” Steve said. Carol couldn’t resist the urge to roll her eyes.

 

“We’ll lose,” Tony replied.

 

“Then we’ll do that together too.” For fuck’s sake. He continued, “Ultron's calling us out. And I'd like to find him before he's ready for us.“

 

——

 

Just when Carol thought she’d have a moment to breathe, Tony decided it would be a good idea to take a trip. She didn’t have any idea why this Ulysses dude was so important or how he was connected to Ultron in the first place, but she’d come anyway.

 

The view was quite pleasant: it was as dark and it smelled like rotten fish. She could see Ultron standing in front of a guy Carol assumed to be Ulysses and next to him, stood two kids. She didn’t know them but decided it was best not to ask.

 

“Don't compare me with Stark!” Ultron was saying, kicking Ulysses down the stairs “He's a sickness!”

 

Tony decided that was a good time to land. He pretended to be hurt just to the sake of it. Carol flew lowly, giving Tony some time. He asked about the vibranium and suddenly, Iron Legions started flying. Steve and she exchanged a look and Carol knew what she had to do.

 

As she started helping to destroy the legions, she noticed what the kids could do. The boy was pretty quick (literally) but the girl? She seemed to have some kind of energetic related powers, same as Carol. Which meant, she would be easy to take down. She started with the blond boy first, knocking him down as he started to exhaust himself.

 

“Stand down, kid!” Steve said to the girl. Then she did something with her hands, red energy leaping out of them and Steve’s eyes turned red. Carol tried to stay away but just as she tried to turn, she saw it all over again.

 

All those bodies laid down, her shooting the energy core… That’s when it all started. She remembered to focus. She’d been able to do this before, to break out. So she’d do it again. She could feel the energy flowing through her body, her mind focusing just in time to hear Clint saying on comms, “The whole team is down, you’ve got no back up here.”

 

“You’ve still got me,” Carol said.

 

“Danvers, I need you to take the Hulk down.” He said. Without a question, Carol responded, “On it.”

 

And she did. Taking down an angry green giant without hurting him, is harder than it seems, that’s a lesson Carol learned that day. And it also made a big mess. But in the end, after a lot of confusion and a punch in the face, Bruce was back to his calm, nerd self. And the team was ready… To hide. Maria said there was no other option until they found Ultron, and frankly, everyone was too shaken up to protest. They headed to a little farmhouse. The Bartons farmhouse. Carol tried her best to put on a brave smile and seem strong for everyone, but today had been long.

 

The next few hours were a blur. They did nothing… There was a killer out there and they did nothing. Fury said something about contacting someone named NEXUS but that was as far as Carol got.

 

“That’s great and all, Fury. But I guess we were hoping you’d have more than that.” Carol said.

 

“I do,” he said. “I have you. Ultron said the Avengers are the only thing between him and his mission, and whether or not he admits it, his mission is global destruction. So stand. Outwit the platinum bastard.”

 

“Steve doesn’t like that kind of talk.” Carol teased.

 

“You know what, Danvers?” he said and Carol smiled mischievously.

 

“So what does he want?” Fury asked.

 

“To evolve,” Bruce said simply.

 

Carol frowned, “How?”

 

“Has anyone been in contact with Helen Cho?” _Damn it._

The quinjet had taken Carol to Korea, along with Clint, Natasha, and Steve. Steve decided to leave first. “Two minutes,” he said after landing on the lab’s roof. “Stay close.”

 

“He's uploading himself into the body.” Dr. Cho said, her voice, faint. She sounded like she was in pain, but still, she kept going, “The real power is inside the Cradle. The gem, its power is uncontainable. You can't just blow it up. You have to get the Cradle to Stark.”

 

“First I have to find it,” Steve said. “Did you guys copy that?” he said, now to Carol and Natasha.

 

“We did,” Carol confirmed.

 

“I got a private jet taking off, across town, no manifest. That could be him.” Natasha pointed out.

 

“No, look,” Carol said, noticing a truck from the lab. “Steve, it’s right above you.” She said, staring at the monitor, “I got three with the Cradle, one in the cab. I could take out the driver.”

 

“Carol if that truck crushed the gem could take out the whole city. I’m gonna drive out Ultron first.”

 

After some grunting, Carol and Natasha decided it was best to move in. Carol, who’d grabbed Steve’s shield along the way, threw it at him. Instantly, Steve attacked Ultron with it. As Steve continued to battle with Ultron, Natasha asked, “Carol can you draw out the guards?” Carol nodded, distracted the Legions as best as she could.

 

“Come on, boys,” she said, flying away from the scene. Immediately, the robots followed. As she prepared to blast them, the robots flew the scene, no doubt to aid their master.

 

“Natasha, whatever you’re gonna do, do it now,” Carol warned. She flew back into the quinjet, just in time to hear Clint say, “I have a clear shot.”

 

“Negative,” Natasha said. “I’m still in the truck.”

 

“What the hell?” Carol asked. After a beat, Steve called, “I lost him. He’s headed your way.”

 

“Nat, we gotta go,” Clint hurried.

 

“I’ll buy her some time.” Carol decided. Ultron approached Carol just in time for Nat to deliver the Cradle. She almost had him, when Ultron grabbed Natasha’s foot and flew away. They flew to Tony’s location but when they thought things couldn’t get worse, they did. Clint was working on finding Natasha and Carol was trying to open the Cradle for what felt like the 300th time.

 

“This thing is sealed tight,” Carol said.

 

"I can work on tissue degeneration if you can fry whatever operational system Cho implanted,” Bruce said.

 

“Yeah… About that.” Tony said. “Our ally? The guy protecting the military's nuclear codes? I found him.” He said, bringing up JARVIS’ conscience.

 

“Hello, Dr. Banner, Miss Danvers.” JARVIS said.

 

“Right,” Carol said, “Now what?”

 

“We upload JARVIS’ conscience into this… whatever it is.” Tony explained and Carol nodded. After some time, Steve came barging into the room. For a second, Carol’s heart leaped. He was alive… he was okay. “Shut it down.” He said. What the hell? “You don’t know what you’re doing.” Carol frowned.

 

“What the HELL are you doing?” Carol shouted as the blonde boy sped and disconnected the Cradle.

 

 The fighting didn’t last long. Steve was about to tear Tony to pieces when Thor showed up, breaking the Cradle with his lightning. Then things got weirder and a red being jumped out of it. At first, it tried to attack the team, then it stayed incredibly calm. The explanation of the situation took less time to make sense than Carol thought it would. They’ve found where Ultron was too and they were on their way.

 

Tony’s hope was down. He was mindset on losing and so he decided he’d be the first to attack. “Iron Man’s what he’s here for.”

 

 “That's true,” the red being said, “He hates you the most.” Carol snorted at Tony’s look of surprise.

 

The first thing the team did was search for Natasha. They decided it was best to keep everyone safe, to evacuate. So they did. Suddenly, Ultron’s minions started flooding everywhere. As if they hadn’t seen him enough. They fought, trying to keep everyone safe. The grounded shook, collapsing with each second. Building, bridges, all of it collapsed, tearing everything apart. Carol and the rest of the team tried to get everyone safe, but it seemed hopeless. Then Ultron’s voice echoed.

 

“Do you see? The beauty of it, the inevitability. You rise, only to fall. You, Avengers, you are my meteor, my swift and terrible sword and the earth will crack with the weight of your failure. When the dust settles, the only thing living in this world will be metal.”

 

“Cap,” Tony said in the comms, “You got incoming.”

 

“Incoming already came.” Steve replied, “Stark, you worry about bringing the city back down safely. The rest of us have one job: tear these things apart. You get hurt, hurt 'em back. You get killed, walk it off.”

 

It wasn’t an easy job, the sight of the city flying was both beautiful and terrifying. Everything was a mess. Robots coming from everywhere, Carol just hoped Tony was doing a better job. As if on cue, Steve asked, “What have you got, Stark?”

 

“Maybe a way to blow up the city.” He said, “That'll keep it from impacting the surface if you guys can get clear.”

 

“I asked for a solution, not an escape plan.” Steve bickered.

 

“We're going to have to make a choice.”

 

“Steve, these people are going nowhere.” Carol pointed out, “If Stark finds a way to blow this rock...”

 

“Not until everyone's safe.” He cut her off. “I'm not leaving this rock with one person on it!”

 

Carol was about to tell Steve to shut it when Fury showed up. She had never been happier to see a SHIELD team in her life. The team led the civilians into the SHIELD lifeboats as quickly as possible. When that was done with, Tony spoke up.

“Thor,” he called, “I have a plan.”

 

“There’s no time, They’re coming for the core.”

 

“Well, then,” Tony said, “Avengers, time to work for a living.”

 

            The rest of the team joined Thor and Vision. Everyone except Natasha and Bruce. Carol never missed an opportunity. “Romanoff?” she called, “You and Banner better not be making out in some ditch.”

 

            “Shut it, princess. Not all of us can fly.” She said, joining the team a few seconds later. “What’s the drill?”

 

            “Simple,” Tony said, “If Ultron gets a hand on the core, we lose.”

           

            As if on cue, Ultron decided to show up. “Is this the best you can do?” Thor shouted defiantly.

 

            “No…” Ultron said as a multitude of robots joined him. “This is.”

 

            “You just had to ask, didn’t you?” Carol asked.

 

            “This is the best I can do.” Ultron repeated, “This is exactly what I wanted. All of you, against all of me. How could you possibly hope to stop me?”

           

            “Well, like the old man said. Together.” And together they charged, the army of robots didn’t last long and after they were done, they attacked Ultron together too. Carol, Vision, Tony, and Thor blasted at him until he was weak. Ultron started to speak, but Hulk sent him flying away. The rest of the legions started to flee.

 

            “They’re gonna try and leave the city,” Carol said.

 

            “We can't let 'em, not even one.” Tony said, “Rhodey!”

 

            “On it,” Rhodey said.

 

            “We gotta move out. Even I can tell the air is getting thin. You guys get to the boats, I'll sweep for stragglers, be right behind you.”

 

            “You’re sure?” Carol asked. He nodded.

 

            “What about the core?” Clint asked.

 

            “I’ll protect it,” Wanda said. “It’s my job.”

 

            They began to move out, heading for the lifeboats, when Carol heard a woman cry out. “Costel,” she was saying, “we were in the market…” She spotted the kid almost immediately and spotting Clint heading for him. Just then, the shooting started. In a flash, Pierro stood in front of him, shielding him from the shots… His body fell to the ground as the shots stopped. Carol’s eyes widened as she watched the scene unfold. After everyone was settled in, Carol could do nothing but watch as the city was being destroyed.

 

———

 

            The team returned home with heavy hearts and as Carol was getting ready to fly home, Steve spoke up.

 

            “Leaving so soon?” he asked. Carol rolled her eyes but she couldn’t help but smile.

           

            “Well,” she said with a shrug, “Space needs me.”

 

            “Ah. Right. Not trying to avoid your problems?” he asked. Carol raised her eyebrows as if asking what he was talking about. After a beat, he said, “You know… Maria and Monica.”

 

            Carol shook her head slowly... “No… I think that’s over with.” She looked over at Steve, a grin plastered on his face. “What?” she asked.

 

            “Nothing… I’m just… glad.”

 

            “Oh…” she said. “You know what, me too.” She decided.

 

            “I’m gonna miss you, Danvers,” Steve said, after a while. Carol smiled, nodding her head. Steve walked over, his arms open, “I’m gonna hug you, don’t burn my arm off.”

 

            Carol chuckled, hugging him back, “I’ll allow it.” They pulled away, Carol taking Steve’s face in her hands. She couldn’t help but smile again and she had to admit it, she was gonna miss him too.

 

            “I’ll see you around, Cap,” she said, getting ready to leave.

 

            “See you, Carol.” With that, she took off, headed to nowhere in search for people who needed help. In a way knowing her friends would be doing the same made her feel better, safer. After so long of having no one to rely on, that was a great feeling.

 


End file.
